Sunday, April 7, 2013

WSJ map a little misleading

If you look at the map for states with strengthen gun laws, you will not an immediate anomaly it shows both Wyoming and Utah, Arkansas, Being really unfamiliar with the other states

If you read down the list
Wyoming now allows Judges to carry in court, while disallowing others to carry. This is actually not a strengthening of gun laws, as prior to it's passage Wyoming law under W.S. 6-8-104(t) bans concealed weapons in
courtrooms, prisons, schools, churches, and government meetings, among
other places. So we went from NO concealed carry to allowing the Judge to carry.

Utah added a provision that allows people to voluntarily leave their guns with the police for 60 day if they feel someone living with them might pose a danger - OK that's not tighter regulation its VOLUNTARY.

Utah also added a provision to allow a court to prohibit the subject of a dating-relationship protective order from possessing firearms. Here my understanding of Utah laws is probably inadequate. But in every case I've ever heard of - Judges have had that ability. The problem is the way the laws are set up it's ripe for abuse. I guess I'm going to concede that this is actually a form of stronger gun control as I have no evidence to the contrary - Color me surprised. I'll have more on this topic later.

Arkansas has added a House Bill 1503 which WSJ shows as Strengthing gun control but as near as I can tell - it protects Gun shop owners from Sting Operations from Bloomberg's lap dogs as they attempt to show how easy it is to illegally purchase guns. - So No not more gun control.

While in Mississippi they've added a law Facilitates the reporting of mental-health data to the National Instant
Criminal Background Check System. Also allows individuals prohibited
from buying guns because of a mental-health disability to petition to
have their gun rights reinstated. While I'm not a big fan of the BIG BROTHER Mental Police as this is another area ripe for ABUSE - I don't see this as strengthing gun control, it's really just an attempt to enforce existing laws. Since it also provides a mechanism for undoing the damage it can cause, I view this as a good thing.

So if I were coloring those maps I think I would have had THREE:

Additional Restrictions (Red) that would have included New York and Connecticut (big surprise) and Colorado - which was a bit of a surprise for me, but then Bloomberg has a LOT of money to throw at this.

Better Enforcement (Green) that showed state who were attempting to make enforcement of existing laws easier Utah & Mississippi.

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About Not Me

I'm not Rick - I don't run a Cafe. I do occasionally dream of running a Cafe/Bookstore with a Live Music Room (no talking allowed). Snuggled up next to a Gun Store. Sadly (or happily depending on my mood) I don't live in an area that would support that.